


Broken Cliffs

by SailorFae



Category: The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV), 魔道祖师 | Módào Zǔshī (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/No Comfort, Jiang Cheng is by no means the best but he tries not to be the worst, Minor Spoilers, Other, Post-Wei Wuxian's Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:35:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23297878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorFae/pseuds/SailorFae
Summary: Even at the bottom of the cliff, the sun beat down, oppressive in its heat. A young man pushed between the rocks, winding through the difficult terrain with difficulty. His hair, which had once been tied back, was starting to fall loose around his face.He hated him.Note: Minor spoilers if you haven't finished the drama!
Relationships: Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín & Jīn Líng | Jīn Rúlán, Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín & Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn
Comments: 16
Kudos: 125





	Broken Cliffs

**Author's Note:**

> This is a completely self-serving fic and my answer to the question: "How come Jiang Cheng had Chenqing?"
> 
> Canon taken mostly from the drama, but I twist it as I like with bits from the manhua and donghua or my own interpretation.

Even at the bottom of the cliff, the sun beat down, oppressive in its heat. A young man pushed between the rocks, winding through the difficult terrain with difficulty. His hair, which had once been tied back, was starting to fall loose around his face.

Jiang Cheng turned back for a moment, listening for the sounds of his disciples—or the disciples of the other clans searching the ravine—then let himself lean in the shade of an overhang, slumping against the wall of a cliff. He pressed one hand against the rocks, lifting the other to his face as it stung.

Hanguang-Jun had punched him. Jiang Cheng had barely seen the body of Wei Wuxian disappear from sight, falling into the shadows of the ravine before a blinding pain struck him in the jaw, sending scattered stars across his vision and knocking him backwards onto the rocks. He had scrambled back to his feet before his vision cleared, blinking the spots away as he raised his own fists, sword forgotten on the ground behind him. If Lan Wangji’s face, knitted in a self-righteous fury that made Jiang Cheng’s stomach churn should have given him pause, he ignored it, growling a “You!” through bared teeth. The Second Master of Gusu Lan turned his shoulder to him, eyes sliding disdainfully from Jiang Cheng as he seemed to _dare_ him to retaliate.

Before he could, another white-clad arm had blocked him, Zewu-Jun pushing between them and grasping his brother by the shoulders. The leaders of the other clans had arrived moments later, widening the gap between Jiang Cheng and the Lan brothers. The ringing in his ears worsened as loud questions and congratulations bombarded him, and Jiang Cheng watched with narrowed eyes as Lan Xichen rebuffed demands of explanation for his younger brother’s actions. Everyone had seen the esteemed Hanguang-Jun turn his sword against cultivators of not only other clans, but his own; had seen him protect the Yiling Patriarch as summoned spirits and fierce corpses caused chaos around them.

And then the rest of the Gusu Lan sect members surrounded their clan leader and lead disciple, making promises to provide an account once the battlefield had cleared and everyone had a chance to rest.

  
  


His chest ached more than his face as the battle came to the forefront of his mind. The blood on his robes, now dry, felt as though it had a heavy weight even as it flaked from the cloth with his movements. Enemies blood. His blood. _Her blood._

Jiang Wanyin pushed himself away from the rock wall and his thoughts, and stepped back into the sunlight. He rounded another twist in the ravine, then stopped short again.

If only it really was just a pile of discarded fabric on the ground, crumpled and abandoned. If only that foot wasn’t visible, the shoe that belonged to it a few feet away and if only that hand wasn’t thrown to the side, twisted in an unnatural angle at the wrist. If only this wasn’t the second body of a family member Jiang Cheng had had to look upon that day.

Wei Wuxian, who he could have sworn had closed his eyes as he fell, stared up at the sky sightlessly. He still had the faint ghost of a smile, even now, and his hair made a dark cloud around his face.

He hated him.

Jiang Cheng forced his legs to move again, breaking into a stumbling run and collapsing by his former brother’s side. His hands reached out, grabbing fistfuls of Wei Wuxian’s robes and dragging his torso up. “Still laughing, even now?” He seethed, but when Wei Wuxian didn’t lift his head, didn’t send back a retort, Jiang Cheng felt his hands loosen, the cloth slipping through his fingers.

He hated him.

Wei Wuxian’s head rolled to the side, hair covering his face. Jiang Cheng forced his hands into fists again, but they shook, and a choked gasp forced its way from his throat. He should send up a signal flare, he knew. He should alert the other sects to the location of the Yiling Patriarch. But when he moved to retrieve one, his fingers brushed against the dried blood on the front of his robes, and he flinched.

She wouldn’t hate him.

“You…” Jiang Cheng whispered, then swallowed, pressing the heels of his palms against his eyes. When the tears had started, he couldn’t say. Maybe he hadn’t stopped yet. Too many questions swarmed his mind, questions he couldn’t get an answer to. _“Why?”_ He finally yelled, hunching his shoulders as he dropped his hands from his face and bent over the body of his brother. _“Why?”_

He hated him.

He should signal the other search parties. But Jiang Cheng’s hands were in the dirt, pulling rocks, sticks, and dead leaves out of the way. It wasn’t easy—the ground here was rough, and there was a dull pain in his palms, but he pushed forward, eventually scraping out a shallow depression in the ground next to a short, twisted tree. “There,” he huffed, sitting back as he surveyed his work. It was terrible, but it would do. Better than he deserved, better than anyone else would give him.

Jiang Cheng had carried Wei Wuxian many times. But he was heavier this time, and Jiang Cheng almost buckled as he tried to stand, one arm around Wei Wuxian’s waist and the opposite hand keeping his arm over his shoulders. “Gods damn you,” he muttered, forcing himself to move, just for a bit longer. When he reached the hole he had dug, Jiang Cheng let his legs fold, tipping himself and his brother to the side so that the latter would land into the churned earth. Into his grave.

“I hate you,” Jiang Cheng growled, tossing the boot that had fallen free next to Wei Wuxian’s leg. He turned away, scanning the ground for more of the other man’s effects. Some paper talismans, scattered on the rocks. A red hair ribbon. That damned _dizi._ Jiang Cheng stomped around the area, grabbing everything he could see and throwing them on top of Wei Wuxian’s body.

 _“A-Cheng,”_ his sister’s voice chided in his head, and Jiang Cheng felt his eyes well up with tears again. It wouldn’t do. He crouched next to the grave, brushing the talismans to the side. He lifted Wei Wuxian’s head with one hand, dragging his hair back and away from his face. He wouldn’t braid it, as if for sleep, like they used to do for each other as children. But he did tie the hair ribbon around it in a messy ponytail, resting over Wei Wuxian’s shoulder. “If you have any sense, you’ll stay here,” Jiang Cheng said gruffly, taking Wei Wuxian’s wrists and pulling them over his chest, folding his fingers around _Chenqing._ “Just stay here, and keep to yourself for once, and, and–” _Rot._ The rest of his sentence died in his throat, and Jiang Cheng took a shaky breath.

“I hate you.” He finally mumbled, bowing his head. “This is just so you don’t become a vengeful spirit.” The dry air swallowed his words, making his voice sound small. Jiang Cheng scrubbed at his face again, then turned to push the soil over Wei Wuxian.

_Wait,_ his thoughts snarled, and Jiang Cheng glanced back towards the corpse before him. He stared for a moment, then reached forward again, wrapping his fingers around the _dizi_ and drawing it from Wei Wuxian’s hands. The black smoke that once curled from it was gone, but the lacquered wood seemed to absorb the light as he turned it in his hand, the tassel swinging lazily. Jiang Cheng glared at it, clenching it so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

Then he shoved it into his robes, and began shoving the earth over Wei Wuxian, refusing to look at the body of his brother as the dirt covered him. When he was done, Jiang Cheng stood, ignoring the sting of pain in his hands and his chest as he surveyed his handiwork. An animal could easily dig it up again. Jiang Cheng drew _Sandu,_ used it and strength he didn’t have to leverage a large, flat-enough rock over the grave and the roots of the tree.

He hated him.

Jiang Cheng turned to look back one more time as he left, eyes drifting over the quiet scene. The tree could stand as a gravemarker, the boulder as a coffin lid. He wouldn’t burn joss paper or light incense in Lotus Pier for him, not alongside the joss paper and incense he would have to use for his sister.

He hated him.

  
 _No, you don’t,_ the voice in his head muttered, and Jiang Cheng went back the way he had come, pausing only to cause a small rockfall and block the path to the graveyard of one.

**Author's Note:**

> I know that Wei Wuxian's body was never found, and I'm honestly stuck between believing that his body and soul were just yeeted from the mortal plane, and wanting to believe something along what I wrote here. I feel like this is within the conceivable limits of Jiang Cheng's character, at least in the drama, since he did keep Wei Wuxian's flute (it didn't squeak or sound rusty from disuse when wwx used it, either, so I'm going to go ahead and believe that Jiang Cheng learned how to clean it too)
> 
> I also just wanted an excuse to write Lan Zhan suckerpunching Jiang Cheng and essentially getting away with it.
> 
> Edit: Originally this was going to have 2 chapters, but I decided that they would stand better alone as oneshots. The piece that was going to be chapter two will be posted separately soon


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